Please contact the Library & Archives NT:
Email: ask@lant.nt.gov.au
Darwin Office:
Postal Address: GPO Box 874, Darwin NT 0801
Phone: (08) 8924 7677 or 1800 019 155
Alice Springs Office:
Postal Address: PO Box 8225, Alice Springs NT 0871
Phone: (08) 8951 566
Quote this number to access your records: Northern Territory Archives Service Series ID (NTRS), 1527
These records are held by Library & Archives NT (2019 - current).
Essington House Correspondence Files is a series of files related to children placed in Essington House. The name of the child is written on the front and/or side of each file. The files contain correspondence, reports, forms and other documents. Some include school reports and letters sent to and received from the child.
Most government records in the Northern Territory are open for research 30 years after the end of the year in which the records were created. Some records, however, are subject to restrictions due to their sensitive or confidential nature. This is the case with many records related to children under the care of the government. These records are restricted for 100 years from the date of their creation.
To apply for access to closed records, you will need to write to the Northern Territory Archives Service. The government agency responsible for the records you wish to access will then consider the granting of access. This is done on a case by case basis. Please contact the Archives for assistance and further information about how to apply for access to closed records. A number of Fact Sheets for researchers are also available on the Archives website.
Despite their title – Correspondence Files – these files are actually Children’s files. Each manila folder contains letters, reports, forms and other documents related to a particular child. The name of the child is written on the front and/or side of the file. Later files also have ‘Essington House’ on the cover.
Many of the files have a printed form attached to the inside cover titled ‘Assessment and Training Centre – Progress Record’ which includes personal details such as date of birth, address, description of appearance and medical information. The form also includes a calendar which shows the placement of the child in the security section or hostel and also indicates free nights and weekends and the date of release from the Centre. Some files include a photograph of the child attached to the inside front cover.
Other documents on files include the ‘Order Committing Child to the Remand and Training Centre’, pre-court reports, social workers’ reports, assessment reports, and documents titled ‘Significant Discussion Report’ and ‘Informative report on child’. Other notes on the file relate to ‘Placement meetings’ and absconding. Some files include school reports and letters sent to and/or from the child.